USC is lucky to be located in a climate that doesn’t require it to spend the first few weeks of the season on the road.  Teams from up north aren’t so lucky.  Many of those teams spend two or three weeks traveling around the South playing tournaments and road games.  Why couldn’t South Carolina take advantage of this situation and hold its own tournament?

Perhaps the second weekend of the season would be a good time to invite three teams to Columbia for a bit of a showcase of USC’s program and stadium.  Of course, Carolina doesn’t have to do anything to promote its program on the national level, but we’ve got one of the best stadiums and atmospheres in the country.

How much fun would it be to invite three teams for a round robin tournament?  We could invite a B1G team with a large alumni base, like an Ohio State or a Michigan.  To that we could add a northern ACC team like Virginia Tech or Syracuse, or if we were very ambitious, Virginia.  To that group we could invite someone from the midwest or out West.

Two games would be scheduled on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Carolina would play in the Friday evening game, and the late afternoon games on Saturday and Sunday.

The advantage of bringing teams with large alumni bases in would be that you could expect to sell more tickets to games where USC isn’t playing.  It would be a fun weekend fans would want to be in town for, and it would probably be a weekend the SEC Network or ESPNU would want to come to town for.

From a baseball standpoint, it would diversify the teams USC would face, and it could help with RPI numbers, not that it’s much of a problem playing in the SEC.

What do you think?  Would you go?  Would you watch on TV?

On Saturday sophomore Will Crowe, last season’s Sunday starter, will be on the mound.  Crowe finished last season 8-3 with a 2.75 ERA.  This year Crowe has been named to the Golden Spikes Award watch list.

Sunday will see a new starter in Josh Reagan.  The left handed Reagan started only one game last year, but appeared in 14.  He was 3-0 with a 0.36 ERA.

This is an ideal scenario and is how well recruited and stocked programs replenish their rotation.  When the Friday starter moves on, as Jordan Montgomery did after last season, the next man steps up.  The Saturday starter moves to Friday, and the Sunday starter moves to Saturday.  Then you take the guy who had the best ERA on the team and have him throw Sunday.  It’s early in the season, so there will probably be some movement, but this group of starters has the experience needed to be effective for an entire season.